The Plesiosaur Body Shape and its Impact on Hydrodynamic Properties

Scott Mardis sent this to me and it is a very valuable resource. The entire article can be downloaded from the site

http://mds.marshall.edu/etd/274/

Cryptoclidus is the genus with a body shape most like what we are after and the others do not concern us just now

Cryptoclidus' torso is unusually steep-sided for a Plesiosaur and it indicates some better degree of vertical movement at the surface, for surfacing, poking its head up, and then going straight down again.

Emerging the last one just a little more and allowing for the neck flexibility we already know was in there, we can have the animal in virtually any "Periscope" position the sightings actually suggest

 Another one of my colleagues calls the animals in the vertical-periscope position "Bobbers" and I think it is a good term. In reviewing the cases, we found many examples. The foreflippers can be spread out at the sides for stability when in this position. 15-20 feet is a common height  reported

The Saint-Fancois-Xavier sighting evidently has the animal showing a rear fin as it rolls and here is a version of the Plesiosaur in that position:

 

 

I am adding this now as a start of a more in-depth analysis to bee built up later over time, but what is here so far does look very promising.

Some More Plesiosaur Lake Monster Info From Scott Mardis

Scott Mardis compares Lake Champlain and Loch Ness photographs with Plesiosaur skeletons above, and a view of a photograph of the head with the skull of a Plesiosaur at the British Museum.

 

Scott Mardis included this reconstruction of a type of Plesiosaur with a "back fin"-this would not ordinarily show up in fossils and a lower fleshy structure like this could have been more of a hump structure and serve the same purpose. Scott Mardis also suggested to me that there could be a natural tendency to develop two medial back humps above the front and rear limb girdles: the same possibility had occurred to me independently several years earlier, and others had also independently remarked upon it. The basic structures would be made up of skin over connective tissue, but you could also include a fatty layer in that, some kinds of sea creatures store fat in or near the fins.

 

 

Scott Mardis' overlay of a Champ sighting over a Plesiosaur skeleton and showing the known range of motion in the neck in that genus. I do not think the difference in the flexibility as stated by the witness was that severely different, and the main new feature to be present and not shown are the humps on the back. I prefer Heuvelman's description of the hump in Longnecks: "One big medial hump looking like two otr three smaller humps together", with underlying layers of fat underneath it, and the humps can change shape owing to turbulence waves in the wayter and from the action of muscular layers in it (Oudemans even suggested this last statement)

 

Below is a summary of sightings from Loch Morar, and the sightings are typically much like the composite profile that we get from the Longnecked reports at Loch Ness

 (there is also a smaller residual of smaller shortnecked creatures in both locations)

 

 

 

Tim Dinsdale with his model he made illustrating his analysis of the "Monster" reports at Loch Ness. He had two different basic models, one with the two humps illustrated in his drawing in the book, and the three-humped version he shows in this model. He also said that it really did not matter since he thought the humps could change shape. Basically we are all saying the same thing on that point. Dinsdale thought the humps were showing subcutaneous air sacs but after some deliberation I opted for Heuvelmans' explanation as being safer.

 

Tim Dinsdale remarked that the body configuration of the creature in this sighting (seen partly on shore) was close to his composite model but made independently before his model was publicized. The drawing also "Predicted" the rhomboid fins that were not documented as belonging to the Loch Ness Monster until much later on.

 

Hawkesbury River Monster from Australia, frequently compared to Dinsdale's version of Nessie and in fact often called just "Nessie. The worldwide overall similarity of the reported creatures is actually quite close and the same features and proportions keep showing up.

Plesiosaur Family Tree

I posted this at Lake Monsters and so I thought I should post it here. Darren Naish made the base chart of this BUT he threw some rather puzzling "Leftover" Longnecked Plesiosaur fossil genera in with the Elasmosaurs mostly because he did not seem to want another family. Those genera were formerly stated said to be a prolongation of the Cryptoclidid family by the standard references and the family would include the putitive genus of surviving post-Cretaceous Plesiosaurs. It is marked with an asterisk (*) on the chart above. The reason to draw attention to this group and to make a fuss is because the structure of the neck is entirely different from the Elasmosaurs, and lumping them in with the Elasmosaurs suggests their necks were similarly stiff and inflexible. The key point is that the anatomy of the vertebrae was different, the cross-section of the vertebral centrum was different, the neck was much shorter overall and very likely was considerably more flexible
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristonectidae
Because the vertebrae of this group was known first, Edward Drinker Cope had at first assumed that the vertebrae of Elasmosaurus were reversed back to front in order to have a comparable anatomy. This soon became an obvious error. But it goes to show you that the anatomy of the vertebrae were really very much different in comparison

San Francisco Sea Serpent

Jay Cooney and I were having a discussion about this sighting at the Zombie Plesiosaur Society and he indicated the witness drawing at top. I cut out just the black part showing above the surface and said "Looks like the two humped conformation with flippers tilted up on the far side" and Jay's reply was "Yes, I was actually just looking at that myself. Would support the idea of its [the prolonged "body" at the rear] being an illusion of the water with an unknown animal present." and I am pretty sure that was only the wake.
http://home.access4less.net/~sfseaserpent/
an excerpt describing this sighting posted by Tabitca for the CFZ included this information:
http://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2010/04/san-francisco-bay-sea-serpent.html

in 1985 two brothers Robert and William Clark were sitting in a car near the sea wall. This is their story of their experiences and there is a link to their site at the end of the blog post where you can see stills of the film they took etc :

We have had 8 sightings of a sea serpent in San Francisco Bay during the period 1985-87. The first and closest sighting was only 20 yards away. We were parked in our car at 7:45 a.m. looking north at San Francisco Bay just east of the Golden Gate Bridge and west of Alcatraz Island. The water was dead calm and we saw some sea lions playing about 150 yards from us. We saw what we thought was another sea lion swimming towards them from the west. When it was a few yards away the head and neck raised out of the water at least 10 feet straight up. It then lunged forward and attacked the sea lions. The sea lions fled towards where we were parked with the creature following right behind them. We could see the creature create vertical undulations in its neck as it swam through the water. Then it went underwater. The sea lions swam right in front of us leaping in and out of the water in an attempt to escape the creature. We didn't know it until the next day when we examined the area at low tide but the sea lions swam over a ledge with rocks on it that protruded 20 yards into the bay. The water went from 40 feet deep to only 3 feet deep above the ledge. Suddenly, 20 yards in front of us we saw what looked like half a truck tire break the surface with a long neck and head just under the surface of the water in front of it. A second arch broke the surface of the water behind the first and then we watched what we thought was a huge black snake swim by but when we expected it to end it got wider. Then there was a splash and a crashing sound as it stopped dead in the water. Immediately, we saw it lift its neck quickly out of the water and it pulled itself backwards to get off the rocks. It splashed back into the water and disappeared. instantaneously, the rest of the neck came out of the water in a corkscrewing manner as it tried to pull itself off the rocks and into the deeper water. As it corkscrewed it exposed the midsection and the underbelly above the water and we got an excellent view. the midsection had hexagonal scales that did not overlap but were connected to each with a common side. They varied in size from the size of a dime to the size of a silver dollar.. We had 7 more sightings in the next 2 years and were able to get 6 photos.

In view of the scepticism they received , they issued the following challenge:

We (Bill and Bob Clark) have had several sightings of sea serpents in San Francisco Bay since 1985. On February 5, 1985 we saw a sea serpent beach itself only 20 yards from where we were parked in our car and we saw the entire animal expect the tail. On January 26, 2004 we took a 3 1/2 minute video which we claim contains images of several sea serpents swimming in SF Bay. We had 2 independent analyses of the video done. One was done by BSM Associates (expert image analyst Clifford Paiva and physicist Dr. Harold Slusher) and the second was done by marine biologist Bruce Champagne. Both analyses concluded that our video contains images of several large unknown serpentine marine animals swimming in SF Bay. We invite all skeptics to provide us with the expert of their choice who is willing to do an in-depth analysis of our video and we will send them a free copy. We only request that they agree not to post any portion of the video on the internet or anywhere else without our permission and if the conclusion of their analysis disagrees with the Paiva/Slusher analysis and the Champagne analysis that they provide us with their supporting documentation. We can be reached at our email address sfseaserpent9@hotmail.com.

 My comment was that the part of the sighting actually seen above the water was consistent with a Longneck and its behavior toward the sea lions was also consistent with other reports made previously in other places, including off Vancouver Island. And I suspected already then that the very long extended body was only the appearance caused by the disturbed water in the wake, and any appearance of humps in that disturbed water was only caused by waves in the water..

I was not convinced the sections of skin as mentioned actually represented scales as opposed to regular creases in the skin, something which has been reported in other cases especially at the joints around the flippers, and here the creases are often said to resemble an elephant's hide. The way the neck moved, the size of the neck, and the way that it curved over and struck at the sea lions, are all consistent with Longnecked Sea Serpent reports otherwise.

Plesiosaurs and Gars

As Scott Mardis  mentioned, Canadian Post-Cretaceous freshwater plesiosaur fossils have been found in the same deposits as those of gars and bowfins (He has the pdf on file)

Scott posted this picture as "Meanwhile in Lake Champlain" saying that it could just as easily represent conditions in Lake Champlain now. The illustration was intended to show a Mesozoic Plesiosaur.

My comment was "Those garfish look eminently swallowable" and on his separate posting about the fossil association "I would take that as a strong indicator for a predator-prey relationship"

Original Notice of the Patagonian Plesiosaur

1922, eleven years before Loch Ness was in the news

Chronology of Sightings at Loch Ness

Lake Champlain Rhombopteryx

 

 

I was sent this by Jay Cooney some time back but I decided to wait until he had a go at publishing it himself. It seems to represent a Plesiosaur-shaped creature in this footage taken at Lake Champlain and it seems to have the same sort of a flipper as is ascribed to the Loch Ness Monster.  The original footage is known as the Bodette video. Scott Mardis has also remarked upon this. Below is an animated gif which seems to show the creature opening and shutting its mouth
http://makeagif.com/bkySa_#MQYupTGpevK1Csze.01

Administrative Notice

Unfortunately there have been technical problems on this blog. I was not allowed on to do anything for a long time and all of the interim comments were accidently wiped. It could not be helped and I apologise for any inconvenience this caused, it was out of my hands.

New Candidate Cause for "Faux Alligator" Tracks

I apologise for the long hiatus, there has been a technical problem that was refusing me access to this Blogger account.

In this case, I got a chart for common wildlife tracks posted to my Facebook account this morning.

And it suddenly struck me that the beaver tracks blown up twice the size would match the basic outline of the problematic "Faux alligator" tracks that have been reported rarely in the southern states including Florida, Texas and Louisiana. These tracks have an arrangement of toes that is nothing like the pattern of normal alligators, although the tracks are usually ascribed to alligators when they are found

And the remnant-Castoroides reports are known to specify a beaver the size of a bear. This would also account for some of the larger and stranger "Swamp Monster" reports and possibly the "Frogfoot" reports (They would not account for the somewhat similar but much slimmer "Lizard man" and "Kappa" tracks reported in Europe and Japan. and these in turn are probably more like webbed monkey feet with longer toes)

So I think we have perhaps hit upon a solution to this problem. The "River Liz" reports which have been reported and sketched by witnesses are not like this but are unwebbed and the toes are more like fingers (3-toed reports of all of these tracks also occur, and could be the result of only partial imprints of the feet)

This being the case it is also possible that some of the "Swamp Monster" reports are actually Giant beavers and that might include both Momo and the Honney Island Swamp Monster, if they are genuine reports. Their heads are big and round, legs short and they generally seem to be more animal than human in nature.

Also there seems to be some indication of small round ears and a cleft upper lip. And the eyes aren't seen from in front because they are actually on the sides of the head.

Another Patterson Film and Costume Comparison

The photo on the left just came to my Facebook page as a feature of the Ohio Bigfoot Conference: I immediately thought to make another demonstration by comparing it to the Patterson film "Patty"
The result is basically there is no comparison. Literally everything about the human being in the costume is wrong and does not remotely resemble the subject of the Patterson film. I sould point out especially the configuration of the head and face is all different, but also the limb and body proportions, the posture, stance and ease of movement are all different. The guy in the suit does not even show any obvious butt.

Administrative Notice

Technical problems at Blogger have been preventing the release of any new blog articles again. I have just managed to push a couple through but it looks as though the Blogger is not cooperating once again, since I am getting error messages both when I am signing into the account and when I try to publish anything.

I shall still keep on trying but I should let everybody know, there is no guarantee that I will ever see any of the comments that were made while my Blogger account was not working. Sorry.

Living Dinosaurs/ Biped Lizard Sightings

http://ghostradio.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/exclusive-real-life-dinosaur-sighting/

[Sent to me by Troodon Roar on Facebook-DD]

EXCLUSIVE: Real Life Dinosaur Sighting!

Ever dreamed of seeing a dinosaur in the flesh?  Some people claim dinosaurs still live in remote regions of the world.  The following is a story that came from one of our readers,  Weldon Abbot, M.D., about a frightening encounter he had with a young T-Rex many years ago:

I once saw a living dinosaur in the Kalahari Desert just a few miles north of Windhoek in 1949. I was in Cape Town South Africa when I saw in the newspaper that there was an epidemic of bubonic plague in Windhoek.

Read the rest of this exciting story after the jump …

I am a physician and since I had never seen a case of bubonic plague, I took the next plane from Cape Town to Windhoek, I went and met the English physician there who had remained there after the war and who had the cases of bubonic plague in a makeshift hospital there.

Here’s a map of the area for those of a geographic state of mind.

You can see the city that Dr. Weddon is referring to at the center of the map.  Now back to the story:

When I landed in Windhoek it was raining and the locals told me that it was the first time it had rained in seven years. The day after I went to see the cases of bubonic plague I decided to take a hike out into the Kalahari Desert. I hiked for an hour or two north of the small town and while walking in a dry stream bed there suddenly came around a bend in the dry bed  and, about40 yards ahead of me,  stood a dinosaur that looked like a small tyrannosaurus rex.  Same body configuration, shape, rough skin and color. Its mouth was closed so I did not see any teeth. It was about my eighth, about 5′ 8″, I would judge since eye levels were about the same.

Dr. Abbot  may not be aware of this, but modern paleontologists suggest that the tyrannosaurus rex was at least this small or smaller well into adolescence.  Unlike modern mammals, they didn’t see slow growth over many years, but had a massive growth spurt just prior to adulthood.  For more on this theory, click here.  But now back to our exciting story:

Shocked and surprised, we both froze.   Our eyes fixed on each other.  This must have lasted about 5 seconds.  Then the dinosaur turned and took off up the wade in the direction from which it had come. I went on up to the bend in the dry stream bed and then watched the dinosaur running  for 200 yards and then it turned to the left and disappeared. The locals that I spoke with when I got back to Windhoek had never heard of such a thing around there. The next day I boarded a plane back to Cape Town and did not say anything more to anyone about the incident because the few people that I mentioned it to found the story hard to believe, which is understandable but it remains a true story, nevertheless.

It’s a wonderful story.  And we’re so glad Dr. Abbot  shared it with us.

[Troodon was especially interested in this separate report from Kansas in 2010:]

1. Manuel salas Says:
   January 27, 2013 at 7:29 pm

   About 3 yrs ago coming back from vacation with family from Colorado, I saw a small Dino. We were traveling east on hwy 70 almost to Colby,Kansas. It was about 3pm, perfect clear sunny day. I we were in a infinity SUV on the outside lane, on the right. There was a dead animal of some sort on the yellow line on side of road. As I got closer I saw a small, about 15 inch Dino feeding off the dead animal. As it ran off it stretched its neck, it was a grey/brown type of color. Small head, fairly long tail. It ran the way a road runner runs. Of coarse my wife was looking down reading a tabloid magazine so I’m the only crazy one.. Lol I have thought about it a lot and tried in my mind to make an explanation for it but I can’t. I know what I saw and that bugs me. I swear this is a true story and I would be willing to go under hypnosis and take a lie-detector test just to prove to myself I’m not crazy. Well that’s my story thanks for reading
   

   ghostradioworld Says:
   January 31, 2013 at 1:43 pm
   • Great story. And thanks for sharing it.
     But what makes you think this was a dino? Could it have been a modern lizard engaging in bipedal movement? There are some that do this.
     • Brandon Says:
       March 1, 2013 at 4:57 am

       None that are in Colorado lol
     • ghostradioworld Says:
       March 4, 2013 at 3:21 pm

       So nothing like this?
       
       
2. Manuel salas Says:
   June 28, 2013 at 9:24 pm

   No it didn’t look like any lizard I have ever seen, I love watching nature shows about all kinds of animals and wild life. I have perfect 20/20 vision and what I saw looked like the little Dino’s in land of the lost with will Ferrell. When the ice cream truck fell out of the sky and the little Dino’s were running around looking for food. I know this sounds like a made up story and just totally ridiculous but I swear by my own life it’s what I saw! I know I’m better off telling people I was abducted by aliens. Lol 
3. Manuel salas Says:
   June 28, 2013 at 9:30 pm

   And when I say about 15 inches, I mean in height. And about 20-25 inches in length. I found an old video on you tube in black and white of some small Dino’s running. Looked just like that.
   

   ghostradioworld Says:
   June 29, 2013 at 3:47 pm
   • Very cool story. Thanks for sharing it!

[It sounds like a collared lizard but it is bigger, 25-30 inches long would be a minimum. It was also compared to the small dinosaurs shown in Land of the Lost and they looked like this:

 

I am personally pretty certain the African sighting is a large unknown monitor lizard sitting up, and the sighting in Kansas is some sort of an iguanid lizard that runs on its hind legs.
-Best Wishes, Dale D.]

Update on Discovery "Documentary" on C. megalodon

Did Discovery Channel fake the image in its giant shark documentary?

Image showing Megalodon swimming past U-boats off Cape Town was doctored. Come clean, or prove me wrong   

Image purporting to show a giant shark swimming past German submarines. Photograph: Sharkzilla/Discovery Channel

The suspicion that the Discovery Channel had abandoned its professed editorial standards was a powerful one. As I mentioned in my earlier blog, its documentary claiming that the giant shark Carchardon megalodon still exists contained images which gave a strong impression of being faked; reports of incidents which don't appear to have happened; and interviews with "marine biologists" no one has been able to trace.
But allegations of fakery are very hard to prove. As you know, absence of evidence doesn't mean evidence of absence. Just because no one has been able to find the news reports the Megalodon show claims to have found, or any record of the deaths of four people in an attack by a giant shark off South Africa last year, or any trace of the suspiciously handsome experts it used to confirm its thesis doesn't prove definitively that all of them are inventions, even though it's hard to see how they could not be.
And pointing out that a photograph the "documentary" used to make its case looks like a really bad CGI cobblers in which just about everything is wrong isn't quite the same as being able to state categorically that it's a fraud.

 

 

 Whale carcasss on beach. Photograph: theguardian.com

So to test my suspicions I offered a small reward – a signed copy of my latest book – to the first person who could find an original copy of another image Discovery used, which purported to show a Megalodon swimming past two U-boats off Cape Town.
It was the perfect cable channel conjunction: Nazi U-boats and a rediscovered extinct sea monster all in one frame. How clever they were to have found such an image, which, though utterly astounding, had remained unnoticed for 70 years!
Apart from the minor quibbles that no U-boats of this class are known to have been close to South Africa on the given date, that everything about the shark fins looks wrong, that at 64 feet between the dorsal fin and the tail this monster was twice the size even of the actual creature (which every expert on Earth, except the two mysterious "marine biologists" in the film, believe became extinct about 2 million years ago), and that the great beast creates neither bow wave nor wake, there were other reasons to be a little suspicious.
As one of my correspondents points out: "The swastika up the top is ludicrous so I won't bother mentioning that. The photograph is toned sepia. This is ridiculous as it required a separate pigment in a process that was used to make the photograph look warmer and 'nicer' for family photographs. It required more effort that developing in black and white. Photographs coming as sepia as standard is simply another myth created for entertainment."
So there's powerful evidence that this image had been doctored, but again it doesn't quite amount to proof. Until now.
Before I wrote the article I conducted an image search, and found nothing. Now I know why. It wasn't a still picture. A sharp-eyed reader found the frame in some footage of U-boats on Tarrif.net. The footage was shot in the Atlantic. Take a look 12 seconds in.
It's the same shot. But guess what? No shark. And no swastika. And not off Cape Town. Or anywhere near.
I wrote to the company handling media inquiries, putting it to them that the production company which made the film, Pilgrim Studios, doctored the image and misled the audience. I have not heard back from them.
Here's Discovery's mission statement:

 

 

Discovery Channel's mission statement. Photograph: Public domain

How many people now believe it's living up to these ideals?

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2014/feb/21/discovery-channel-giant-shark-documentary-george-monbiot

[I posted the announcement of the documentary as a news item only and I later had to add the disclaimer that all the "evidence" in it was faked. As of right now we really don't have good evidence for the continued existence of Charcharodon megalodon as opposed to the occasional outsized Great White shark. We are starting to get substantial data indicating that the reported Whale Eater is something else even bigger and it is not a shark (although confusingly people in tropical regions have always called it a "Shark")-DD]

Muppet Faced Nessies

Submitted Article From Scott Mardis

Preadators Scale

The fifteeen largest known active predators, extinct or alive. Larger graphic here: http://bit.ly/124gg5A

Scientists announce top 10 new species for 2014

Scientists announce top 10 new species for 2014

 (w/ Video)

23 hours ago

Enlarge

This image shows Olinguito at Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Ecuador. This is one of the Top 10 New Species of 2014. Credit: Mark Gurney / CC BY 3.0

 An appealing carnivorous mammal, a 12-meter-tall tree that has been hiding in plain sight and a sea anemone that lives under an Antarctic glacier are among the species identified by the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry's (ESF) International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) as the top 10 species discovered last year.


An international committee of taxonomists and related experts selected the top 10 from among the approximately 18,000 new species named during the previous year and released the list May 22 to coincide with the birthday, May 23, of Carolus Linnaeus, an 18th century Swedish botanist who is considered the father of modern taxonomy.
The list includes a quartet of tiny newcomers to science: a miniscule skeleton shrimp from Santa Catalina Island in California, a single-celled protist that does a credible imitation of a sponge, a clean room microbe that could be a hazard during space travel and a teensy fringed fairyfly named Tinkerbell.
Also on the list are a gecko that fades into the background in its native Australia and a fungus that, conversely, blazed its way into contention by virtue of the bright orange color it displays when it's produced in colonies. Crawling slowly into the final spot on the alphabetical list is Zospeum tholussum, a tiny, translucent Croatian snail from one of earth's deepest cave systems.
The annual list, established in 2008, calls attention to discoveries that are made even as species are going extinct faster than they are being identified.
"The majority of people are unaware of the dimensions of the biodiversity crisis," said Dr. Quentin Wheeler, founding director of the IISE and ESF president.
Scientists believe 10 million species await discovery, five times the number that are already known to science. [Emphasis Added]


http://phys.org/news/2014-05-scientists-species-video.html

 

    

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Video link

The International Institute for Species Exploration has announced the Top 10 New Species for 2014. Credit: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

"The top 10 is designed to bring attention to the unsung heroes addressing the biodiversity crisis by working to complete an inventory of earth's plants, animals and microbes. Each year a small, dedicated community of taxonomists and curators substantively improve our understanding of the diversity of life and the wondrous ways in which species have adapted for survival," Wheeler said.
"One of the most inspiring facts about the top 10 species of 2014 is that not all of the 'big' species are already known or documented," said Dr. Antonio Valdecasas, chair of the selection committee and a biologist and research zoologist with Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, Spain. "One species of mammal and one tree species confirm that the species waiting to be discovered are not only on the microscopic scale."
Valdecasas pointed specifically to two of the species: "the shrimp, Liropus minusculus with its phantasmagoric appearance" and the gecko, which bears a "disturbing likeness to some imaginary monster."


"Beautiful beasts, I would rather say!" Valdecasas said.
The Top 10 Species of 2014
Olinguito: A New Carnivore, Hidden in Trees
Bassaricyon neblina
Location: Ecuador
The appealing olinguito, resembling a cross between a slinky cat and a wide-eyed teddy bear, lives secretively in cloud forests of the Andes mountains in Colombia and Ecuador. It is an arboreal carnivore that belongs to the family Procyonidae, which includes the familiar raccoon. The olinguito is smaller, though, typically topping out at about two kilograms (approximately 4.5 pounds). It is the first new carnivorous mammal described in the Western Hemisphere in 35 years. Its apparent dependence on cloud forest habitat means deforestation is a threat.
Kaweesak's Dragon Tree: Mother of Dragons
Dracaena kaweesakii
Location: Thailand
Sounding like something out of Game of Thrones and standing 12 meters (nearly 40 feet) tall, it's hard to believe the dragon tree went unnoticed this long. Beautiful, soft, sword-shaped leaves with white edges and cream-colored flowers with bright orange filaments are the hallmarks of this impressive plant. The dragon tree is found in the limestone mountains of the Loei and Lop Buri Provinces in Thailand and may also be found in nearby Burma. Valued as a horticultural plant, its small number (perhaps 2,500), and the fact that it grows on limestone that is extracted for the manufacture of concrete, has earned this species a preliminary conservation status of endangered.
ANDRILL Anemone: Discovery on Ice
Edwardsiella andrillae
Location: Antarctica
A species of sea anemone, living under a glacier on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, raises questions by its very existence. It is not clear how the species withstands the harsh conditions in its habitat. It is the first species of sea anemone reported to live in ice. It was discovered when the Antarctic Geological Drilling Program (ANDRILL) sent a remotely operated submersible vehicle into holes that had been drilled into the ice. This revealed the presence of small creatures, less than 2.5 centimeters long (one inch) with most of their pale yellow bodies burrowed into the ice shelf and their roughly two dozen tentacles dangling into the frigid water below.
Skeleton Shrimp: A See-through Crustacean
Liropus minusculus
Location: California, U.S.A.
This tiny shrimp, the smallest in the genus, was identified from among specimens originally collected from a cave on that island of romance, sunny Santa Catalina, off the coast of Southern California. Part of a marine family known as skeleton shrimp, only distantly related to the ones some humans love to dip in cocktail sauce, this crustacean is the first of its genus to be reported in the northeastern Pacific. The new species has an eerie, translucent appearance that makes it resemble a bony structure. The male's body measures just 3.3 millimeters (about an eighth of an inch); the female is even smaller at 2.1 (less than a tenth of an inch).
Orange Penicillium: A New Fungus among Us
Penicillium vanoranjei
Location: Tunisia
Distinguished by the bright orange color it displays when produced in colonies, this fungus was named as a tribute to the Dutch royal family, specifically His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange. It was reported in a journal published by the National Herbarium of the Netherlands. The newcomer was isolated from soil in Tunisia. This species also produces a sheet-like extra-cellular matrix that may function as protection from drought.
Leaf-tailed Gecko: Look Hard to See This One
Saltuarius eximius
Location: Australia
It's not easy to spot this gecko, which has an extremely wide tail that is employed as part of its camouflage. With longer limbs, a more slender body and larger eyes than other Saltuarius species, this one has a mottled coloration that allows it to blend in with its surroundings. Native to rain forests and rocky habitats, this gecko is a bit of a night owl. It is found on the vertical surfaces of rocks and trees as it waits for prey. Surveys of similar habitat near the area where this species was found did not reveal additional populations, so this may be a rare species. The gecko was discovered on rocky terrain in isolated rain forests of the Melville Range of eastern Australia.
Amoeboid Protist: Body Builder from the Mediterranean
Spiculosiphon oceana
Location: Mediterranean Sea
This one-celled organism is four to five centimeters high (1.5 to two inches), making it a giant in the world of single-celled creatures. This foram (part of a distinct group among the many amoeboids) from the Mediterranean Sea gathers pieces of silica spicules, which are actually sponge fragments, from its surroundings and uses them like so many Lego blocks to construct a shell. It ends up looking much like a carnivorous sponge as well as feeding like one, extending pseudopods (a protist's version of arms) outside the shell to feed on invertebrates that have become trapped in the spiny structures. This species was discovered in underwater caves 30 miles off the southeast coast of Spain. Interestingly, they are the same caves where carnivorous sponges were first discovered.
Clean Room Microbes: Alien Invaders?
Tersicoccus phoenicis
Location: Florida, U.S.A., and French Guiana
There are some things we don't want to send into space and the newly discovered clean room microbes are among them. Found in rooms where spacecraft are assembled, this microbial species could potentially contaminate other planets that the spacecraft visit. Tersicoccus phoenicis was independently collected from the floors of two separate clean rooms around 2,500 miles apart, one in Florida and one in French Guiana. While frequent sterilization reduces the microbes found in clean rooms, some resistant species persist that can tolerate extreme dryness; wide ranges of pH, temperature and salt concentration; and exposure to UV light or hydrogen peroxide.
Tinkerbell Fairyfly: Do You Believe in Fairies?
Tinkerbella nana
Location: Costa Rica
The tiny size and delicately fringed wings of the parasitoid wasp family Mymaridae led to their common name: fairyflies. Tinkerbella nana, named for Peter Pan's fairy sidekick, measures just 250 micrometers (0.00984 inches) and is among the smallest insects. It is the latest addition to the 1,400 or so known species of the family. The new species was collected by sweeping vegetation in secondary growth forest at LaSelva Biological Station in Costa Rica. Although its host is not yet known, like other fairyflies it presumably has a life span of not more than a few days and attacks the eggs of other insects.
Domed Land Snail: Looks Ghostly, Moves Slowly
Zospeum tholussum
Location: Croatia
Living in complete darkness some 900-plus meters (nearly 3,000 feet) below the surface in the Lukina Jama-Trojama caves of western Croatia is zospeum tholossum. This land snail lacks eyes as they're not necessary in the total darkness of the caves, and it has no shell pigmentation giving it a ghost-like appearance. Only one living specimen was collected in a large cavern among rocks and sand with a small stream of running water nearby, however many shells were also found in the area. Even by snail standards, Zospeum tholossum moves slowly, creeping only a few millimeters or centimeters a week. Researchers suspect these small snails, measuring only 2 millimeters in length (0.08 inch), travel in water currents or hitchhike on other cave animals, such as bats or crickets, to travel longer distances.
Why inventory matters
"I have been participating in the top 10 since its beginning in 2008, and I am always surprised by the constant number of species discovered in all the organic kingdoms," Valdecasas said. "It makes selecting the species challenging and demanding, but at the same time, inspiring. We are very far from having exhausted the knowledge of the biodiversity on Earth. " Wheeler offered three reasons why an inventory of Earth's species is critical:

• Without a baseline of what exists, humans will not know if something disappears, moves in response to climate change or invades new habitats. "As long as we remain ignorant of the vast majority of species, we unnecessarily limit our effectiveness at conservation goals."
• Billions of years of natural selection have driven plants and animals to solve the same survival problems that humans face. "By studying the millions of ways in which organisms have met challenges, we open a great library of possibilities for meeting our own needs more sustainably."
• Simple curiosity is a factor. "If we want to understand what it means to be human the answer is buried deep in evolutionary history. We are a modified version of our ancestors, and they of theirs … all the way back to the first species on Earth. With the loss of every species, we lose one chapter in our own story that we'll never get back."

Wheeler hopes the Top 10 draws attention to the urgent need, and real possibility, of completing an inventory of all of Earth's species. "Advances in technology and communication mean that the centuries-old dream of knowing all species is within our reach. The benefits of learning our world's species are incalculable and the single most important step we can take in preparation for an uncertain environmental future."
Valdecasas concluded by conjuring an image of a human who had arrived on Mars with a one-way ticket. At some point, that space traveler would begin pining for the flowers and animals of home, the smell of spring and the sound of running water. "Nothing, nothing could ever compensate for that," he said. "Now, think how fortunate we are to have at hand such a universe."


Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-05-scientists-species-video.html#jCp

The Whale Eater Strikes

This was shared with the Zombie Plesiosaur Society on Facebook.

 I'd say this is independent evidence of and good evidence for the Whale-eater theory I have been promoting the last several years. After a little research I found out the traditional name actually is "Whale Eater" after you translate it, in many locations.

A rescuer examines a female fin whale, which lies alive and stranded on the beach at Carlyon Bay on August 13, 2012 in St Austell, England. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Aug 22, 2012           

http://darkroom.baltimoresun.com/2012/08/getty-photographer-matt-cardy-on-a-stranded-fin-whale-that-died-off-the-st-austell-coast/#1

Getty Photographer Matt Cardy on a stranded fin whale that died off the St Austell coast

Stokely Baksh 0 Comment Retrospective, World England, Fin whale, Getty Images, Matt Cardy, St Austell

13 photos

Getty photographer Matt Cardy photographed a fin whale that was stranded on a beach off the St Austell coast in England on August 13.
He says it was the first time for him photographing a distressed whale and a first time for most of the rescuers to have dealt with such a large mammal at 20 meters (65 ft). Fin whales are the second largest animal on the planet and an endangered species.
According to Cardy, he was listening to the 7 p.m. BBC headlines in his car when the broadcast reported news of the whale. A quick check of his satellite navigation, revealed that he was less than an hour away, so he headed to the beach – a random chance that he was so close that evening.
Below, he describes the surreal scene.

Rescuers examine a female fin whale, which lies alive and stranded on the beach at Carlyon Bay on August 13, 2012 in St Austell, England. Fin whales are globally an endangered species and the second largest animal on the planet. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

 

  

When I arrived, it was bedlam. Cars were parked everywhere and people were making their way to the beach. The whale had been reported only a few hours before and was already attracting a large crowd of onlookers. It had washed up on a private beach (unusual in the UK) and they had closed the car park. Luckily, I showed my press card and talked the security guards into letting me drive rather than walk the 30 minutes down the path to the beach. That was critical as the sun had set and the light was fading fast. As I got onto the beach, hundreds of people were lining a cordon that had been set up to give the animal some space.
The crowd were very somber and quiet. As soon as I arrived, I was told that there was little anybody could do as the animal was too sick to be helped.
I was allowed into the cordon to photograph the whale at a much nearer distance. I used a Canon 70-200mm f2.8 and a 24-105mm lens on 2x 5D Mark II’s, shifting to 3200 ISO at a 60/sec. Eventually, the animal went through what we later realized were its death throes, opening its mouth and swashing its tail. After 15 minutes or so, it settled down, and the rescuers examined it and pronounced it dead.It was a very sad end to an event that had happened all really quickly.
—
Edited by Stokely Baksh

            

Rescuers attempted to save a female fin whale that died after it was stranded on the beach at Carlyon Bay on August 13, 2012 in St Austell, England. Initially, they had hoped to refloat the 65 ft fin whale. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2187919/Whale-Cornwall-dead-Stranded-animal-dies-beach-Carolyn-Bay-St-Austell.html#ixzz24HzoVa5j

 

[Closeup of the wounds on the head. Something with enormous elongated jaws had seized the whale and was worrying it to death. The whale escaped but was traumatised and eventually beached itself in a state of starvation. This was not the bite of a sperm whale or any other known large marine predator.-DD]

 

 Scott Mardis sent in a second copy of this report (filling in the pages that had not printed in the first posting of this blog article owing to a technical glitch) and he added a couple of additional illustrations

 And he adds "This is not the bite of a sperm whale, the tooth row is different"

 And yes I have records of similar bite marks reported from before. This is the first time they have been photographed and so well documented. But I had heard of such things as far back as the 1970s when I was going through Ivan Sanderson's archives. Reports at that time were unsubstantiated allegations only, unfortunately. we needed to wait forty years more before we had good documentation. Special thanks to Max Hawthorne for doing so well on this report.